A common problem encountered in the field of podiatric medicine is determining the proper location at which to incise a patient's foot in order to perform a surgical procedure. Surgical treatment of podiatric medical problems generally involves a podiatrist or other physician creating an incision corresponding to the location of the problematic area. It is crucial that the point of incision be accurately located on the patient's body. Otherwise, the patient runs the risk of multiple incisions, and an increase in the time of surgery. An incision made at the wrong cite can also risks new injuries and possible further complications.
One example of where a proper point of incision is critical is in the treatment of bone spurs. Bone spurs are outgrowths of bone caused by the buildup of calcium deposits due to excessive stress at points where ligaments and/or tendons attach to bone. Bone spurs often appear on X-ray film as small protrusions extending from the heel of the foot.
Accurately locating a proper incision point on the patient's foot corresponding to a podiatric growth viewed on an X-ray film poses several problems to the physician. While many podiatric growths, such as bone spurs, are discernible by X-ray, the physician must visually estimate the corresponding location of the point of incision on the patient's foot. It is impractical, if not impossible, to attempt to locate an incision point on a patient's foot from a corresponding X-ray film, in part because X-ray images are only two-dimensional.
Further, it is impossible for the physician to both incise the proper area and simultaneously view the X-ray film. Currently, a physician must attempt to use a ruler to transfer the X-ray measurement to a patient's foot. The physician first measures the location to be incised on the X-ray along the X and Y axes. These measurements are then transferred to the patient's foot using the ruler. However, because the X-ray produces a two-dimensional representation, the X and Y measurements taken from the X-ray film with a ruler do not take into account the curvature of the foot. Therefore, this method does not bridge the gap from two to three dimensions, and often produces inaccurate results.
Otherwise, the physician must either look back and forth from the film to the patient, or have another member of the surgical team hold the X-ray film near the patient's body. Either of these options affords the physician only an approximation of the proper incision point.
There is, accordingly, a need for a device for accurately and easily transferring the location of an anatomical feature from a diagnostic image to a body site.
There is also the need for a diagnostic device which accurately transfers a measurement taken from a two-dimensional image to a three-dimensional body part.